FA Cup: Eastleigh winger has already played in a semi-final - against Saints

Just ask Lee Cook, who as a teenager made his FA Cup debut against Saints for Watford in the 2003 semi-final at Villa Park.

The Spitfires winger is often reminded of the day Saints reached their second FA Cup final, against Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium, amidst a kaleidoscope of red and yellow.

"My mum's got photos of me playing in that game everywhere," he laughs. "They look so good because there were 44,000 there. We took a load and Southampton obviously did.

"The atmosphere was brilliant."

Cook, 19 at the time, came on for the last 15 minutes, with Saints leading 1-0 through Brett Ormerod's header (above) just before half-time.

Within a few minutes of Cook's introduction, a Paul Robinson own goal doubled Saints' advantage (below), before Marcus Gayle set up a tense finish with an 88th-minute header.

That was Cook's first match against Premier League opposition, for a Watford side that was in the Championship at the time.

"It was an exciting day," he continues. "You never know if you're actually going to get on or not but I'd had a really good game in a win at Crystal Palace the previous Tuesday and that made it difficult for Ray Lewington to drop me.

"So I knew I was going to get on at some stage. I got about 20 minutes in the end and the last five were a bit tasty after Marcus Gayle scored.

"We had a couple more chances. I was really hoping we'd get another one so I had an extra half-hour of extra time.

"Paul Telfer was the right back so he's in every photo I've got, sliding in as I'm attacking him!

"Andy Gray said how well I'd done on the commentary but it wasn't until later in my career, when I was getting knocked out in the third round every year at QPR, that I realised it was quite a big achievement to play in an FA Cup semi-final.

"When you're 19 and you've got no fear you don't really think about it."

Cook is now 32, but has not progressed played beyond the FA Cup third round since - and insists the best day of his career was a League One fixture against Brentford four months earlier.

On December 21 2002, he made his debut for the club he supported as a boy after being loaned to QPR for three months.

"In terms of the exposure of the game the semi-final was probably the highlight of my career and it's good to be able to say I played in one.

"But there's been nothing like making my debut for QPR. That was my biggest game.

"I had to get 30-odd tickets - my family all support QPR - and my mum and dad were crying."

As a budding winger, Cook grew up watching the likes of Andy Impey, Andy Sinton and Trevor Sinclair.

"They were good ol' QPR years," he smiles, before reeling off a few more of his Nineties heroes: "[Roy] Wegerle, Les Ferdinand and Kevin Gallen, who I then played with."

Cook ended that loan spell with his first QPR goal, a month before taking on Saints. But he returned to Loftus Road for the first of two spells a year later.

"The early years under Ian Holloway were fantastic," recalls Cook, a £150,000 buy in July 2004. "He's such a funny man and good to work for.

"You enjoyed going to training every day, we were very professional and very fit.

"It's a shame he's sort of knocked it on the head, but if another job came along I can't see him saying no to it because he loves the game."

After three years with QPR in the Championship, Cook moved to near neighbours Fulham in the summer of 2007.

"I had to go because QPR were struggling financially. But only two months after I left Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone took over ...and after signing for Fulham just before the season started, I busted my knee in the last pre-season friendly.

"I was only there for a year. It was such a disappointment. Roy Hodgson came in as manager and sent me on loan to Charlton to get fit."

Another loan spell at QPR (above during a 4-1 win against Saints in September 2008) ended when he was re-signed for £2.5m by Paulo Sousa in January 2009.

But Cook was restricted to 16 starts during three more seasons at Loftus Road.

"The first stint was better, the second was when I started having a lot of problems with my knee," he explains.

"We got promoted in my second-to-last season there under Warnock so had some good times. But we never got past the FA Cup third round."

After a season at Leyton Orient (below in League One action against Crawley in 2013), Cook spent half a season in Greece's top flight, for Apollon Smyrni.

He and Darren Ambrose were signed by Lawrie Sanchez - a manager who knows a thing or two about FA Cup upsets - in January 2014.

"I only played four games but loved it there, I've never known an atmosphere like it - and I played at Old Trafford in front of 70,000 for QPR.

"There were only 16,000 at one game but the noise....there were fireworks going off with smoke everywhere and the fans all had their tops off banging the fences.

"I could see why the top players all want to play in Europe. It was amazing.

"I played against Panathinaikos but was gutted not to play Olympiakos. We were rock bottom when we arrived but only needed a point at Olympiakos in the last game and lost 1-0.

"If we stayed up I would have probably stayed there."

Cook was soon signed for Barnet by Martin Allen and helped 'Mad Dog' win the National League last season.

It is an achievement he believes he can replicate with Eastleigh.

"This is as good a squad. We've got players with league experience and others in their early twenties like Josh Payne and Jamie Turley who could comfortably play league football, so the mix is there.

"We just had a bad start. At Barnet we won nine of the first ten so had a really good cushion but only went up by a point in the end.

"We're looking unbeatable in the league. The chairman's in this for the long haul and I want to be a part of it as long as the legs keep going."

Cook, who commutes from London with his "driving school" - Ben Strevens, Ross Lafayette and Ross Flitney - is fully fit after recovering from a recent neck problem.

"If we gel against Bolton they'll be in for a tough game. I'm really looking forward to playing against a Championship-quality team, but they won't like coming here.

"The pitch will cut up really bad and we'll use that to our advantage."

After six FA Cup third-round appearances without a win for QPR, Cook nearly broke his duck with Leyton Orient three years ago, against Hull City.

A Premier League club at the time, Hull scored a 90th-minute equaliser before winning the Brisbane Road replay.

Hopefully Cook's luck will change today.